Ed Huber had not been seen in the neighborhood for a while. He was a hang around type guy who had been arrested several times for breaking and entering. At one point in his criminal career, he did a year at Deer Island House of Corrections. Most guys his age who were lifelong criminals had gone beyond that type of criminal activity. They tried for a big score or found some less strenuous manner of living. Ed had no contemporaries in the house breaking business but managed to find some younger guys to hang around with so he could pursue his same vocation.
One of them was William Treannie. In February 1964, Ed Huber and Treannie were arrested in Cambridge for a breaking and entering. They were arraigned in the East Cambridge District Court and released on bail. They did not show up at their next scheduled court date. A warrant issued for their arrests.
Shortly after the warrants issued, Ed Huber dropped out of sight. At one point between then and November, two guys showed up at his landlady’s house to say he had been slain. On November 24, a hunter walking the woods of Hingham found “skeletal remains” off Main Street near Tower Brook. It was reported that the body had “two holes, apparently bullet wounds, in the back.”
In late September of the following year, an unidentified man told this tale. On a July date, he and Treannie, age 23, met 43-year-old Ed Huber at a bar on Washington Street in the South End. Treannie had a beef with Huber, Treannie claimed Huber was not giving him what he was due from some of their burglaries. The argument got heated, Treannie pulled out a six-inch-long switch blade knife and grabbed Huber by the throat. Huber exclaimed “you’ve cut me!” They then helped Huber outside where Treannie “punched Huber in the kisser.” Treannie then tossed Huber in the front passenger seat of his car.
The witness said Huber sat in the car when the witness and Treannie went into a joint at Washington and Dover Street. They went back to the car and drove out to Hingham. During that time Treannie would reach over from the back seat and punch Huber. When they stopped, Treannie picked up Huber’s body. He carried it over to some bushes and threw it in. He returned to the car carrying a pair of pants, a shoe, and some underwear. He said he gave him his last rites. They drove back to the South End where Treannie got out of the car with the clothes.
The witness said he was forced by Treannie to participate in this. He said Treannie threatened him with the knife if he did not do it. The holes in Huber’s back must have been knife wounds that Treannie put there, perhaps thrusting them through the seat into his back.
The person who gave that story of Huber’s death was not identified. He was not needed as a witness against Treannie. By that time Trennnie had been murdered.